Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so quiet on the blog as of late! We’ve encountered some serious issues with our currrent webhosting provider. Late last week the site was down for a good chunk of time, then the server it sits on got hacked, effectively rendering the site usesless. Thankfully nothing was lost, other than time and patience on my part!
Needless to say, I’ll be shopping for a new webhosting company in coming weeks, and will be doing some major backups to make sure I am ok if anything serious happens (plus will be helpful for the move to new server).
Lots I want to write about this week – I am long overdue for a Winter Composting update for starters!!
Anyway, I’ll definitely get back to it tomorrow!
Thanks for your patience!
Bentley
Written by Compost Guy on January 16th, 2008 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Announcements.
I wrote about this on the Red Worm Composting blog this morning, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to make mention of it over here as well.
This morning I was pleasantly surprised when a delivery person rang the doorbell, with a cardboard box in hand. I knew it could only be one thing – worm castings, care of the friendly folks at Worm Power (RT Solutions)! Whoohoo!
One of the awesome things about being an active (and I like to think, passionate) blogger in a particular field is that it’s a great way to connect with cool people doing really neat things (like making worm compost for a living!). I’ve written about Worm Power (on the RWC blog – see Worm Power and Worm Power Videos) a couple times over the past few months, and have had quite a few friendly exchanges with them as a result.
These e-mail exchanges eventually led me to inquire about purchasing some worm castings, so that I could test them out for myself. Of course, having multiple worm composting systems (several of which I could literally reach down a touch as I type – well ok, that would make for some awkward typing), I COULD get my hands on some worm castings if I needed to, and I’ve already proven to myself how well the stuff works (via previous experimentation). But when it comes down to it, I’ve always wanted to try out castings produced in a state-of-the-art ‘flow-through reactor’ (pretty well the ultimate in professional worm composting systems).
Long story, short…rather than telling me how much it was going to cost me (as would be expected), they offered to send me a 3 lb tub of castings to play with! (thanks again, guys!) – yet another advantage of having a ‘voice’ in the online composting arena I guess.
Anyway, I can’t wait to start playing with my new tub o’ dirt! It’s going to be a lot of fun. Needless to say, I’ll keep my readers up to date with any fun activities/results worth mentioning (lots of interesting stuff planned, and certainly not just limited to worm castings!).
(Feel free to check out my goofy post over at RedWormComposting as well if you like. Here is the link: The Power of Worms is MINE!)
[tags]worm power, worm castings, worm compost, rt solutions, vermicompost, worm composting, vermicomposting, compost, organic soil, soil conditioner, fertilizer[/tags]
Written by Compost Guy on January 10th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Worm Composting.
I received an interesting e-mail query from a reader yesterday and it has inspired me to write a post comparing worm composting with bokashi. You may recall that I’ve previously written about ‘Hot Composting vs Vermicomposting‘, so it only makes sense that I throw bokashi into the mix, now that I’m becoming such a bokashi pro (ha ha)!
Ok, here are some bits and pieces taken from the emails I received from our reader, ‘JBB’ (second blurb is from another email they sent after I replied)
i read some of you articles, and i can’t find a comparison between
bokashi and vermicomposting.
I mean, i want to do home composting (without a garden), but i don’t
know which one to choose between bokashi and vermicomposting.
.
.
.
What makes me ask questions is the article about bokashi composting on
cityfarmer, where it say :
“that stuff does break down very fast in the soil, and that when I dig
in the area a month or two later it is absolutely WRITHING with earthworms.”
So maybe the two process are complementary, and bokashi is just the
start of a complete composting solution, where the worms are needed to
end the process …
This is an excellent question and I’m very glad JBB decided to e-mail me. I’m sure there are a lot of people trying to decide what waste management strategy (or variation thereof) will work best for them.
Let me start by saying that I am a firm believer in the notion that there is no one ‘be all, end all’ strategy out there – especially when we are talking about subjects relating to ‘sustainability’. The more I learn about all these various fascinating ways that ‘wastes’ are converted to resources (composting, vermicomposting, bokashi, aquaponics, recycling etc), the more I believe that they should all play a role, as part of a larger integrated whole.
Dr. John Todd’s various ‘Eco Machines‘ provide an excellent demonstration of this idea. I still remember vividly my first encounter with Dr. Todd’s work – almost certainly one of the turning points in my life in terms of the direction I wanted to head. It was a video I found online (sadly it is nowhere to be found now) that featured a system Dr. Todd set up in Burlington Vermont. It all started with brewery waste which was used to grow gourment Oyster mushrooms. The spent mushroom substrate was then fed to Red Worms, which were in turn used to feed Yellow Perch. Small (edible) shrimp helped to clean up fish waste, which was further assimilated by a wide assortment of plant (edible and ornamental). Multiple marketable ‘products’ were produced – all from a material that is considered a waste product!
It’s funny how the only ‘waste’ happening is the misuse of all these amazing resources (ie. dumping these materials in the landfill is a real ‘waste’, when they can be used for something else!).
Wow…ok, that ended up being WAY more of a tangent than I had intended!
Back to our regularly scheduled programming…
The point of my blathering is that I’ve learned that there doesn’t always need to be a ‘best’ strategy. In fact the best approach often involves combining multiple different approaches. I think this definitely applies in the case of composting/bokashi/vermicomposting, and I get the feeling JBB was onto the same idea by the time they sent me the second e-mail.
OK, with that brain dump out of the way, let’s now talk about each of these techniques in more detail, and see if we can’t at least come up with some sort of comparison for JBB’s benefit.
You can learn more about bokashi in my ‘Bokashi Basics‘ post, but let’s quickly review the process. Bokashi is a primarily anaerobic waste management technique that involves the use of a microbially-inoculated bran mixture (called bokashi), combined with a wide assortment of organic waste materials in some sort of sealed container (typically a bucket).
Here are some of the advantages, once again:
- Very easy, once you have your mixture and bucket
- Can be done on any scale (small to large)
- Bokashi container takes up little room
- Odour free (still waiting to prove that for myself – hehe)
- Ability to process wastes not recommended for compost bins (meat, dairy etc)
- Affordable
- Great slow-release fertilizer for your garden
Vermicomposting (a.k.a. ‘worm composting’) is the breakdown of organic wastes via the joint action of earthworms (those specialized for the task) and microorganisms. It involves the setting up of some sort of ‘worm bin’ containing bedding and of course worms. Food wastes are added and the worms process them as they decompose (feeding primarily upon the microbes that have colonized the materials).
Here again are some of the advantages of worm composting:
- Relatively easy once you get the hang of it
- Can be done on any scale
- Produces an incredible compost material that has been repeatly shown (in scientific studies) to posses unique, growth promoting properties
- Takes up very little room (as compared to a backyard compost bin)
- Odour free (if done properly – this can be a big “IF”, especially important to remember if you are just starting out)
- Worms can be used for other things if you so please (food for other animals, fishing bait, sold for composting etc)
- Like bokashi, vermicomposting is quite affordable, especially if you can get your worms for free
Ok, so as you can see both these methods have similar advantages, and both represent fun indoor strategies for dealing with kitchen (and other) wastes. In my case, I am looking forward to combining these methods (although I’ll certainly test out the garden-burial-method this summer as well) since I’m quite sure the ‘finished’ bokashi bucket with contain materials that the worms will be more than happy to process further.
The one and only downside that I see for bokashi, not encountered with worm composting, is that you basically do need some place to put the stuff. So, if you don’t have your own garden or sizable worm bin it may not be as practical for you. A worm bin on the other hand can literally go anywhere. Sure, your worms will eventually outgrow their home and you’ll need to separate out the castings (compost) at some point, but this is all still feasible for an apartment dweller.
Anyway, that is my (somewhat biased) bottom-line, in terms of a comparison of these two processes. I’m sure our friendly bokashi experts will chime in with their thoughts (hope so, anyway!).
Thanks again for the question, JBB! I thought this was just going to be a short little post, but you never can tell where a topic will lead you!
[tags]bokashi, worm composting, vermicomposting, vermiculture, worm bin, em, friendly microorganisms, microbes, composting, compost, composter, compost bin, eco machines, john todd, mushroom compost[/tags]
Written by Compost Guy on January 8th, 2008 with 15 comments.
Read more articles on Bokashi and Worm Composting.
I received Patt Moreno‘s latest newsletter this morning, and was really pleased to hear about the progress she has been making with her video/tv work. She has been shooting shows for her Farmers Almanac TV series, and has been busy making online videos as well. Speaking of which, she has a five part series on indoor gardening (which I’ve embedded below). Very interesting stuff! Seeing Patti getting busy with seed planning and planting has reminded me that I really need to start thinking about this myself. I can be pretty bad with leaving things until the last minute, but this year I want to be fully prepared for an outstanding gardening season.
One thing that’s certainly going to help is moving my office down to the basement, where all my worm bins and growing supplies are. My laptop is currently sitting underneath a fluorescent grow stand (on a desk) – I’ll post some pics once I get things looking a little more to my liking (ie. once my mad scientist growth lab is set up). I wish I had made the move a long time ago! Aside from providing a nice quiet place to work, having all my compost/gardening related stuff close at hand seems to be providing extra inspiration. I’m sure it will be even better once I have some plants growing!
But I digress…
Here are Patti’s indoor gardening videos:
Patti plans out and starts setting up her indoor gardening. A great reminder that these set-ups don’t need to cost an arm and a leg – nor do they need to be overly challenging to put together.
Planting seeds. I can’t get over how well organized Patti is. Definitely inspirational for yours truly!
Patti takes over the rest of her sun porch. I’m definitely envious of all that growing space. Wow!
Great tips on using various recycled containers to grow seeds.
Patti sets up a simple water station and talks about seedling maintenance. Some excellent info!
I’m definitely looking forward to following along as Patti continues to get ready for gardening season! While I certainly won’t be able to set up anything remotely like her sunporch grow room, I’ll definitely be getting some plants growing down in my new office. I actually am planning out a small aquaponics system, and hope to set that up soon. I’ll be sure to dedicate a post to that once I’ve wrapped my head around it a little more.
I’d love to hear back from others in terms of what sort of garden planning activities you are currently engaged in (if any).
[tags]garden girl, patti moreno, sustainable living, urban farming, gardening, garden, vegetables, soil, organic, seedlings, planting[/tags]
Written by Compost Guy on January 7th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Gardening and Urban Farming and Videos.
Well, I finally got my rear in gear again with my bokashi experiment. I was hoping to get back to it sooner, but it was a little challenging to find time over the holidays. Anyway, I’m really glad I got it taken care of this weekend since I still have to wait an additional 2-4 weeks before I can start using my bokashi mix.
Truth be told, I wasn’t really looking forward to making my own mix. I thought it was going to end up being a huge hassle, and I wondered why on earth I hadn’t simply ordered ready-made bokashi. Now that it is all taken care of however, I’m very I glad I did! It was a lot of fun, and much easier than I expected.
I still need to track down a good source for large quantities of wheat bran. I got mine from the ‘Bulk Barn’ (I love that place!), which was certainly a better choice than the supermarket (which only sold small bags of it), but still a bit of a pain when looking for really large quantities (a.k.a a big ol’ sack of wheat bran). That being said, the amount I bought (approx. 2.5 lbs) ended up being the perfect amount to hone my bokashi-making skills with, and should provide me with enough mix to keeping going for a little while (once it is ready to use). I’m sure I’ll be able to track down someone who sells the stuff in much larger quantities, and if not I’ll simply head back to the Bulk Barn and buy a bunch of bags.
Being very unsure of how to make bokashi (the novice that I am), I made sure to refer to a couple of reliable sources, numerous times, before getting started.
The EM Bokashi page on the City Farmer website has an excellent set of instructions, and I also referred to Neal ‘The PodChef’ Foley’s instructional video. In the end I decided to follow Neal’s recommendations, since it involved adding proportionally more water/microbes/molasses. I figured adding more water would make it easier to mix everything up and ensure that the all the bran is thoroughly moistened.
The ratio Foley uses is 1:1:100 – microbes:molasses:water. In my case (using Foley’s water:bran ratio), I determined that I needed to add approx 750 ml of water, so I also added 7.5 ml each of microbes and molasses.
I started by boiling the water to ensure that it was sterile and because I wanted it warm anyway. Once it had cooled down to about 100 F or so I added the molasses and microbes and mixed it up very well.
The mixing part was a lot more fun that I had expected! I had envisioned some sort of sloppy gunk that would get all over me and be very hard to get off (kinda like making hamburgers using ground beef/bread crumbs/egg), but the material was very easy to work with, and even smelled nice – it felt like I was getting ready to bake some bran muffins!
Once the mix was evenly moistened I filled a couple large ziplock freezer bags with it, squeezed out as much air as I could, then sealed them up. I made sure to write the date on them and then sealed them inside a bucket (more as a safe storage spot than anything).
Now I simply wait. Neal Foley suggests 2 weeks as the time needed (although he does mention something along the lines of “the longer the better”), while the City Farmer page says 1 month. Given the small quantity I’m making, I think 2 to 3 weeks should be sufficient. If any of you bokashi ninjas out there have some thoughts to share, please do so. I’m still learning!
In the meantime, I’m going to track down a larger supply of wheat bran and make another batch!
Stay tuned – much more bokashi news on the way!
[tags]bokashi, em, effective microorganisms, friendly microorganisms, compost, composting[/tags]
Written by Compost Guy on January 6th, 2008 with 15 comments.
Read more articles on Bokashi.
Or so it seems…
You may recall from the recent update me voicing hope that some colder weather would hit so I could really put the winter composting bin to the test. Well, as luck would have it temperatures plummeted the very next day, and have continued very cold today. I decided to make a trip out to the bin when I saw on the Weather Network that it was -18 C (-0.4 F) in my area this morning (and certainly even colder last night). This is definitely the coldest it has been so far this winter! I actually found myself feeling a teeny bit worried that bin temperatures would have dropped substantially as a result.
I decided to take out a bucket FULL of foodscraps (mixed with mulched leaves/grass) accumulated during our recent New Years event so as to provide some warm, microbially active ‘fuel’ for the system – just in case. When I opened up the lid however, I realized my worries were unfounded. Steam billowed out and I could see countless springtails crawling around on the inner lid surface (which was wet – not frozen at all). I quickly took some temperature readings and was very happy to see temps in the 20 C (68 F) range throughout much of the bin!
I didn’t want to push my luck (given the minus 18 air temp), so I quickly added the bucket of material and closed up the bin once again.
Aside from the substantially improved insulation wall added this year, I’ve added a few additional tweaks to my methodology – small improvements that I suspect have helped to maintain the cozy conditions in the bin. Last year whenever I wanted to add more leaves for insulation, I simply opened up one of the bags sitting out on my deck and added whatever amount I desired to the bin. This year I’ve decided to bring each bag inside for 1 or 2 days prior to adding the contents to the bin. This extra step ensures that the contents of the bag have warmed up to my house temperatures and therefore won’t end up lowering temperatures in the composting mass when I add them. This probably seems pretty common sense – and it certainly IS – but for whatever reason it just didn’t occur to me to do this last year.
I am also making an effort to add buckets of waste, rather than simply taking out (and dumping) my milk carton kitchen scrap holder whenever it gets full. I plan to do the same with my bokashi buckets as well, once that project is up and running. Water has great heat holding capacity, so adding more water-rich food wastes (which are already decomposing) at once should help to boost overall warmth in the bin.
I have little doubt that we’ll see even colder temperatures before too long (although strangely enough, they are calling for temperatures well above freezing by early next week!), and cold spells that will last much longer, but nevertheless my optimism remains very high for the success of this years experiment!
[tags]winter composting, composting, compost, compost bin, worm composting, vermicomposting, composter, worm bin, red worms, red wigglers[/tags]
Written by Compost Guy on January 3rd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Winter Composting.
You KNOW you are a chronic composter when…
You are out playing with your winter compost bin at 7:30 in the morning on New Years Day, after 4 hours of sleep and too much bubbly the night before!
Laughs aside, this morning actually provided me with a prime opportunity to check up on the bin and sneak in a winter composting update on the blog while I’m at it. We have family over for Christmas/New Years celebrations but everyone is still sleeping.
As you may be able to tell from the picture, we are being hit with another decent snow storm. When I don’t have to go anywhere I really love these heavy snow falls. I’m not sure if it takes me back to childhood or if I’m excited about the additional insulation for my outdoor compost bin (maybe both?), but either way it never fails to make me smile!
Ok, on to the update…
It hasn’t been very cold here over the holidays but most days have been below zero and most of our snow has stayed. I must say I’m very impressed with how well the compost bin is performing – chugging along like a well-oiled biological machine! This morning I found many zones in the 20 C (68 F) range and the coldest reading (taken from an area next to one of the walls) was 10 C (50 F)!
It feels a little funny saying this, but I really hope we get some severe winter cold eventually so I can really put this bin to the test. Thus far I’ve had no real difficulty maintaining cosy temperatures. I know it would have been a lot more challenging if I was using the same insulation system I set up last winter – thank goodness I decided to get serious this time around. I don’t want to sound too cocky, but in all honesty I will be very surprised if I’m not able to keep the bin active all winter long.
Anyway, that’s all for now!
Oh…almost forgot…
HAPPY NEW YEARS!
[tags]composting, compost, winter composting, compost bin, worm composting, vermicomposting, composter, red worms, red wigglers, worm bin[/tags]
Written by Compost Guy on January 1st, 2008 with 1 comment.
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